O&R Ready to Make Repairs, Restore Power as Strong Storm Approaches
O&R is preparing to mobilize its company-wide emergency response group to repair damage and restore electric service interruptions that could possibly result from a severe winter storm, packing high, gusty winds, periods of heavy rain and as much as 6 inches of snow, that is expected to pound the region Saturday afternoon into Sunday.
O&R company and contractor overhead line crews and tree removal experts have been activated for storm duty Saturday.
Damage assessment, site safety, customer service operations and the wide array of O&R teams that support those functions also will be deployed over the weekend. In addition, O&R has obtained more contractor overhead line technicians to supplement its storm response. Those additional resources expand O&R’s field workforce by nearly 50 percent its normal size.
O&R Warns
For safety’s sake, O&R warns the public not to touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.
Weather Forecast
Periods of heavy rain, totaling about one inch, are due Saturday from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m, The rain then is expected to change to snow, dropping about 2 to 6 inches across Orange, Sullivan, Sussex and Passaic counties and up to 2 inches in Rockland and Bergen counties. The snow is expected to end by 4 p.m. Saturday. Strong gusty winds are expected Saturday beginning at about noon. Sustained winds are predicted to range from 15 to 30 m.p.h. with gusts of 40 to 55 m.p.h. into Sunday at 7 a.m.
Restoring Service
Once the weather clears enough to safely assess damage and begin electric service restoration, crews will give priority to clearing downed wires blocking roads and making repairs to critical and emergency facilities (police and fire stations, and hospitals, for example) and to those locations that will restore power to the most customers quickly. Then, crews will restore smaller outages and individual customers’ outages.
O&R personnel have been instructed to practice social distancing with each other and members of the public when responding to emergency calls to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. O&R asks members of the public as well to maintain appropriate social distancing when they encounter O&R employees working in the field to provide for mutual safety.
How to Report an Outage
If you experience a power outage, don’t assume that O&R automatically knows about it. You can report it and check to see when your lights will be back on through:
- At www.oru.com/ReportOutage from any computer or web-based mobile device.
- O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad or Android device — download via Apple Store or Google Play.
- Text messaging by texting “OUT” to 69678 (myORU) or
- Call 1-877-434-4100.
Important Safety Tips
- For safety’s sake, don’t touch or approach any downed wire. Assume it is energized and dangerous. Call O&R immediately toll-free 1-877-434-4100. Depending on the situation, you may also want to call your local police to divert traffic until an O&R crew arrives.
- Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from downed wires and anything they are in contact with including puddles of water and fences. Supervise your children so that they are not in the vicinity and keep pets on a leash or otherwise secure.
- If a fallen wire is draped over a car, do not approach the car and make rescue attempts. Remain a safe distance away and try to keep the occupant of the vehicle calm. If possible, emergency personnel should handle the situation.
- Pole-top transformers — those small grey-colored metal drums attached to the wires at the tops of most utility poles — also should be avoided when they have been knocked to the ground.
- Portable generators pose a serious hazard if used improperly. They should be used and installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A wrong connection could feed electricity back through the lines and endanger our repair crews. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.
- Have emergency equipment within reach — portable radio, flashlights, spare batteries, first aid kit, cell phone and important medications. Keep O&R’s toll-free number 1-877-434-4100 near the phone to report power outages.
- Remember: if the base station of your cordless phone plugs into the wall, your phone will be unusable during a power outage.
